TOLEDO — Sitting at her kitchen table in a western Tole­do neighborhood, Janni Juhasz smiles as she scrolls through comments on a social media Web site.

Her daughter, Katalin, sits across from her, holding one of their five cats.

“My dog and I support Nala and Bugger,” Mrs. Juhasz reads, laughing.

Mrs. Juhasz said their house has always been full of wildlife. Cats and turtles, hamsters and tortoises. But there are two im­portant family members miss­ing from the Juhasz’s household.

Since May, the family’s two dogs, Nala, a Siberian husky, and Bugger, her mixed breed offspring, have been housed at Monroe County Animal Control after being accused and later convicted of killing two Bedford Township hogs.

“I’ve gotta find some humor in this, or else I would just cry all the time,” Mrs. Juhasz said, again with a chuckle.

Mrs. Juhasz admits that the dogs have gotten out before, but they’ve never gotten into any trouble on their “runs.”

Over the two years the family has been living in this neighbor­hood, they have made improve­ments to their home to help prevent the dogs escaping. A six­foot fence was erected in their back yard and chicken wire was placed around the fences base so the dogs couldn’t dig under it.

They had made it a habit to close and lock the heavy back­door to the house since Nala could jump and open the screen door.

On the day in question, a fam­ily member visited the house without closing that heavier door. They assume that, per her usual behavior, Nala pushed the screen door open and left the house, and Bugger followed his mother.

They had not had an incident since December before the dogs were found in Stephanie Son­nenberg’s Lambertville barn.

Originally, Mrs. Juhasz said, the family felt embarrassed be­cause they assumed the dogs had killed the farm animals. But after an outcry of support from community members — and even some comments disputing the case’s evidence — the family finally filed an appeal disputing their dogs’ original conviction. They are awaiting a court date for a hearing.

“ There are so many people who have been following this from the beginning, and they say it just doesn’t add up,” Kata­lin said.

Farmers, 4- H members, and dog owners from across the na­tion have flocked to Facebook to share their opinions of the case, citing their own experiences with livestock deaths and canine attacks. There are people com­menting from Indiana, Pennsyl­vania, and New York — even as far away as Great Britain.

“ Some farmers have com­mented that the sow may have gotten angry and killed the oth­er pigs. Or they could have died because of how hot the barn got that day,” Mrs. Juhasz said. “I’m a city girl — I don’t know (these things). But I’m hearing this from all these farmers that are in support of us. They’re looking at the pictures and saying that it’s not adding up.”

The Facebook page and pro­file supporting the dogs was created by a former co- worker of Katalin, Angel Billings of Syl­vania, Ohio. Ms. Billings is a former veterinary surgical tech­nician and has owned Siberian huskies in the past. Once she had heard from Katalin what Nala and Bugger had been in­volved with, she wanted to help.

“I know the insides of animals. It didn’t sound right, it didn’t seem right,” Ms. Billings said. “Somebody had to step up and do something.”

After having success with Facebook support groups be­fore, Ms. Billings started the “ Please SAVE US” group that now has more than 1,600 likes. A profile she also created for the dog now has 92 friends.

“ We’ve just sat back and watched the social media ex­plode,” Katalin said. “ I never thought it would blow up to this.”

Aside from advice and per­sonal opinions, many support­ers have offered financial sup­port the Juhaszes. The family has paid more than $ 4,000 to a lawyer on top of a $30-a-day fee for the dogs to be kept in animal control. A FundRazr account has been set up where people can make unanimous dona­tions. About $ 1,300 has been donated and more fundraisers have been planned.

“ We’ve had so many offers from people to help, right now we’re still just trying to sort ev­erything out,” Ms. Billings said.

“ I’m just glad it was spread over social media,” Katalin said. “ Without that, we would have had no chance. They would have been put down by now if it weren’t for the public. We’re so thankful.”

Nala and Bugger have been convicted under a Michigan law that is nearly 100 years old. The law states: “Any dog that enters any field or enclosure which is owned by or leased by a person producing livestock or poultry, outside of a city, unac­companied by his owner or his owner’s agent, shall constitute a trespass, and the owner shall be liable in damages.”

“Basically, they just had to be there,” Mrs. Juhasz said. “I un­derstand why the law was put in place, when it was put in place. In that era, people relied on their livestock to feed their fam­ily. If their pigs were taken down, then their family could go hun­gry for the winter. But we’re not in that position anymore.”

For now, Mrs. Juhasz and Katalin are waiting for an appeal date to be set. While they are hopeful their pets’ conviction will be over-turned, Mrs. Juhasz she is worried she will never see her dogs alive again.

“ These aren’t just dogs, they are family members,” Ms. Bill­ings said. “ You groom them, you care for them, they crawl into bed with you — they are more than just pets.”